Monday, November 7, 2016

It never ceases to amaze me how prevalent 7-Eleven's are in this part of the world. (One website reports that their are over 8,000 in Thailand and over 3,600 in the Bangkok area alone.) It seems that if there ever was a reason to not see one in Thailand, it would have to be that you were walking around with your eyes shut. They dot the sides of every major road, provide a cool place to go at nearly every gas station, and may even be the only store with glass sliding doors in the whole town. I think I've even seen two in one town block (on the same side of the same street).

The sight of them is so common and their services are so often used, that one Bible verse took on a deeper meaning the other day - especially when I thought that it would be good to memorize where the verse was found.

The blessings that our Father would give to us are even more plentiful than the 7-Eleven's in Thailand. They're on every street corner, available at every hour of the day and night. Yet how often we walk past them. We don't see them. We go through life wondering why we haven't received them.

Perhaps it's not the lack of His blessings, but the lack of our walking into them.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Just shortly after school got out in the month of March, I had the privilege of attending some teacher training by a man from Australia and his wife who is Karen. It was a wonderful two weeks of learning how to better meet the needs of my students and help them to learn more easily. Even before the training started, my dad had mentioned that I should probably expect to share the things that I learned during the training. I kept that in mind as I took notes and listened carefully.

Our group at the teacher training in March.

Pretty soon those two weeks were over and another month and a half had gone by. It was time to get our teachers together and get ready for a new school year. Now my time had come. I had a whole week to share what I had learned. As I began going over my notes, I was so thankful for every thing that I had written down and the audio I had recorded, but over and over again I wished that Thara Nathan (the teacher from Australia) could be there to teach it in person. My goal was to share with them what he had taught me, yet I knew that I could never give them as much as he had given me.

Thara Nathan was a part of everything I taught. I could see or hear him in my mind as I shared. I often referred to him as I talked about things or had the class do an activity. As much as possible, I did the training just like he did. A couple of times I mentioned how much I hope he will be able to come and teach them in person next year. The only reason that I was able to do the teacher training was because of the time that I had spent learning from him. I was just a substitute teacher.

This experience reminds me of our work as Christians. When we learn of Christ, our Father tells us that we should prepare to teach others what we have learned. Often when we keep this in mind, it motivates us to study more carefully. As we prepare to share, we will often feel incapable of teaching as well as Christ did, but if we keep Him in our thoughts and encourage others to learn directly from Him, Jesus will be there. We don’t have to wait for Him to come back from another country. He is simply waiting for us to invite Him.

So what if we spent more time learning directly from Him?

What if we realized that the only way to success is to follow His example?

What if the people we are trying to reach learned directly from Him instead of just from us?

Monday, October 12, 2015

She had a son. The most precious thing that she had ever possessed. He was a miracle--something others would never consider giving away. She had wept, her heart had been broken, she had done her best just to have this child. Yet she promised to give him away. She promised to give him back to the Giver.

And now, when her heart has grown to love him more than life, she brings him to the door of the temple, and leaves him there. But that isn't the end. For the gift that she gave back to the Giver was made even more precious. What a mother could only dream for her son was the reality that God made of his life.

(Based on 1 Samuel)

She had a son. I have dreams. Sometimes they seem too precious to even promise to give them to God, not to mention actually giving them to Him. But I'm learning--though so slowly--that there is simply nothing worth holding back. My dreams are dreams, but a dream in His hands will not only become reality, it will be far better than my human imagination could contrive.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

The sky, the hills, the trees all take on a blue tint as the first rays of daylight begin to pierce the darkness. The stillness is too beautiful to disturb with words. I walk in silence and ponder. . . .

It doesn't matter if I slept peacefully from sunset to sunrise, if I was awake most of the night wondering when it would be over, or if the clouds are thick and endless, the light of morning always comes with no haste and with no delay. In all of the years of my life, never has there been a day when the sun came up later than it should have. And it certainly never has failed to come up. Even though I have been through a great variety of nights, I've never doubted that the sun would come up.

Yet somehow I dare to doubt the Creator of the very thing that I don't doubt. I dare to think that He can't make my "to do" list happen; I dare to think that what I can't figure out He can't solve either; I dare to think that when I don't have any strength left, that there is nothing He can do to help me.

But one thought of the past, and I realize how senseless my ways are. There is simply no reason to think that my Jesus would fail me now anymore than He has in the past. Not one time that I have given Him my broken little pieces has He failed to turn them into beauty. He has never failed to answer when I have called, never failed to let me see His beautiful face when I opened my eyes to see it. Never have His ways ended in anything less than the best.

Monday, June 22, 2015

When I have loved myself more than others, treated His children partially, followed my emotions instead of trusting His Word, and left Wisdom for the foolishness of this world, I stop and wonder . . .

I wonder why a Father who knows my heart and all its selfishness and pride to a depth that I don't even comprehend would give me the responsibility of representing Perfection to a world that has seen enough counterfeits. Why consider me a useful instrument in His hands when I have so often done the opposite of His bidding? I'm humbled at His answer.

“And the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.” Ezekiel 36:23

Not because His character is already perfected in me will the heathen believe, but because they are seeing His character being perfected in me as the same hands that want to remake their lives are transforming mine.

Monday, May 25, 2015

The walls that have scarcely begun to be attacked aren’t holding up very well any more. My hands haven’t even touch the edges of those walls either, but the power of One that is invisible is moving the immovable.

Light is dawning; a heart is opening.

The soul that it seemed perhaps even the most experienced couldn't touch is being changed by the hands of an unseen God.

I’ve never spent so much time on my knees before because I have never before longed to be in His presence more than anywhere else. There is simply nothing more wonderful that giving God’s promises back to Him and watching Him carry them out.

“There is power in prayer. When men work, they work. but when men pray, God works.” - Angus Buchan